Caribou will hurt the small businesses in the area (i.e. cafe and cofee shop near by)

I can't imagine that this won't make traffic issues worse at that intersection. Sometimes it's already impossible to enter Century from a few of the side streets north of 36 with the heavy traffic. I would hope dedicated customers will continue to support the cafe and other coffee shop close by. Council must all live close by and like Caribou. Not the best decision they've made.

Clarification: local businesses did NOT speak against Caribou going in. They were there to speak FOR making the 50th/Geneva (17th/Century) intersection safer. We welcome an improvement to the vacant eyesore on the corner. But since hwy 36 access has been restricted to 120 and McKnight, NSP traffic at that intersection is crazy.

What happened to turning the old BlockBuster into a Caribou on the corner of 10th and Hadley? They had a coming soon banne in there for a while.

That intersection is still too dangerous even after all the "improvements" were made. I would simply fill that land with bushes and flowers. And make the turn lane wide and safe.

The State Highway Dept has to do something about this intersection, it should have done something before the Gateway trail bridge was built. It has to be put into a clover leaf or something. 30 or 40 years ago thay were going to put in a clover leaf thay even took out a house on 48th to make room & it is still an empty lot with brush & trees & trash. Then thay built the station & Berger King & the Water softner building. People are always using the turn lane into Berger King to turn left on 36 crossing the double yellow lines for people to turn left onto 48th. Were going to have a bad crash there but nothing will be done till some one gets killed just like on 36 & 50th. That crossing was closed after some kids brains were picked up with a shovel after he was hit on a cycle. Where are are police when people do these stupped things & also when thay block the intersections. Some days it takes 3 changes of the stop sign on 36 for people to get out on to 120 from 48th. If you go South to the stop sign by No. St. Paul 7th thay even block that. I sure don't see many Minn nice.

Hwy 36 should be a freeway out to 694. But since there apparently are no funds to accomplish this, how about this much cheaper plan. Build double left turn lanes onto and off of 36 at English, Century and Hadley. Build designated merging lanes at these intersections that allow right-turn traffic to get onto 36 without having to stop.
This would allow the stoplight time, the main cause of Hwy 36 delays between 35E and 694, to be significantly reduced. Add a pedestrian/bicycle bridge over 36 at Century and we could get by for another ten years.